Originally known as Breckenridge Pass (11,481ft), this road first began serving stagecoaches in 1866 when prospectors flooded into the area from South Park looking for gold. In 1882, a narrow-gauge railway replaced the wagon road and remained in operation until 1937. Although the upper section across the Continental Divide is unpaved, you can easily drive up in summer and in fall for spectacular views.

A parking lot halfway up Boreas Pass Rd on the Breckenridge side serves as the winter road-closure point for the Boreas Pass, and a trailhead for hikers in summer and snowshoers and cross-country skiers in winter. To get here, follow Main St (Hwy 9) south and turn left onto Boreas Pass Rd just outside town.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. High Line Railroad Park

5.86 MILES

This isn't much of a park, but it is notable for its display of a vintage narrow-gauge rotary plow and the locomotives that powered it up the famed,…

2. Summit Ski Museum

6.29 MILES

This small museum celebrates the first ski town in Colorado – that would be Breck – and the first century of Summit County skiing. There's a documentary…

3. Barney Ford Museum

6.36 MILES

Barney Ford was an escaped slave who became a prominent entrepreneur and Colorado civil-rights pioneer, and made two stops in Breckenridge (where he ran a…

4. Breckenridge Arts District

6.38 MILES

This block-long stretch of historic Breckenridge is where you’ll find a burgeoning arts scene. It has a live-work art space for visiting artists, a…

5. Blue River Plaza

6.4 MILES

A beautifully landscaped riverside plaza with ample seating looking out onto the numbered peaks. There is sculpture, a 19th-century wagon, a small toddler…

6. Edwin Carter Discovery Center

6.47 MILES

This award-winning museum sheds light on a pioneer lured west by the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in 1858. He reached the Blue River valley in 1860. An original…

7. Lomax Placer Mine

6.76 MILES

Here’s a chance to pan for gold, learn how old-mining-town chemists assayed the valuable claims and check out the actual sluices and flumes used in placer…

8. South Park City

12.91 MILES

South Park City has nothing to do with Cartman, Kyle, Stan or Kenny. It's a collection of 35 original buildings, built in the 1870s and 1880s in places…